I've watched the first few eps of Demon Slayer S1 & have been struck by how mature/gruesome this series is. The anime's ab children & (ostensibly?) intended for kids but there's tons of blood, gore, death, dismemberment. The show's terrific but it's a stark reminder for me how JP+US cultures differ.

In the evenings, I really enjoy cleaning up the kitchen. Loading the dishwasher, wiping down countertops, fridging/tossing any leftover food. It's become an evening ritual of sorts; I usually put on a podcast or music while I clean. Then the next morning, I wake to a clean kitchen. Highly recommend.

I ❤️ this story of CEO Nat Friedman's first day as CEO of Github. On his first day at 9a at @github.com w/ his leadership team, they didn't talk ab long-term strategy or whatever. Nat literally just went to the issues backlog of product feedback, picked an issue, & fixed/shipped it that day. Legend.

Watched Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle with the crew tonight. I knew nothing ab DS going in; I liked it! Was a little lost in parts but I liked the fundamental philosophical conflict in worldviews: OOH, it's the law of the jungle - the strong survive; weak die. OTOH, everyone is born weak before they

Vocal expression is critical. Nowadays, it's common to spend the entire day in front of your computer in total isolation. Typing a ton but never any talking. I really believe this is actually physically harmful to your body. I encourage ppl to keep a video diary like Matt Damon does in The Martian.

Some unsolicited life advice: in my experience, it is often more important to make a decision than the right decision. (Another version of Bezos's "one-way" vs "two-way" door thing.) Often, the absolute worst possible thing that can happen is getting stuck. Keeping momentum going is invaluable.

The "1A! 1A! 1A!" Lex Luthor monologue is my favorite scene in the James Gunn Superman movie. This is the pinnacle of brain power. Having studied Supes tirelessly, Lex had finally gotten to the point he could anticipate+counter Superman's every move. But in the end, brainpower alone wasn't enough.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) "You're not brave. Men are brave." One of my absolute favorite lines of dialogue ever. The film may have had some issues but I loved it. I'm going to start sharing my favorite scenes from books+movies. Instead of wasting time scrolling, collect+organize!!

A few random thoughts today: 1. I've been getting over some food poisoning so PSA: beware what you eat, esp as you age. I used to be pretty brave+willing to eat novel things. No longer. Every time I have a health incident like this flare up, it's incredibly disruptive+aggravating. ~Two days lost. 😤🤦‍♂️

@jasonkpargin.bsky.social nails it. "All of society is just systems to motivate you. But only you can do it. Motivation and staying motivated is everything." Also: "Being able to recover from interruptions, get back into your routine, and stay motivated is everything." youtu.be/dkR9__xKzxo

Opened positions in $FIG+$UNH today! One thing I love ab America is its equities market. (Tbf, exchanges are everywhere but I'm partial to America's just bc I was born+raised here.) But if you believe in a company, you can invest in it; you can put your money where your mouth is. Actions, not words!

Q: if I'm interested in keeping up w/ the world but looking to not listen to NPR or read any mainstream news outlets, how do other ppl stay informed? I tried just quitting NPR a few yrs ago & that didn't work; I still want to at least know what's going on. But I'm interested in trying something new.

Rewatched Star Trek (2009) last night. I'd totally forgotten ab Chris Pine+the solid decade of "The Chris Wars": Evans, Hemsworth, Pratt, and Pine. To me, I know them as Captain America, Thor, the guy from Jurassic Park, & Kirk. Also, the fact JJ Abrams rebooted *both* ST+SW will never not amaze me.

Watched the first ep of the K-drama, Divorce Insurance, on Amazon Prime today. I think many of the actors+actresses on the show have had facial surgery though? At least to me, it felt like there was something strange ab the face-size-to-neck-size ratio on multiple ppl. Has anyone else noticed this?🤔

jacksondahl.com/dialectic/bi... Dialectic by @jdahl.bsky.social is my favorite podcast right now. This latest bit between him and Billy Oppenheimer is golden advice for creative folks: “Fill up to pour out.” Nothing is created in a vacuum. Writing well first requires living+reading well.

www.pbatsp.com Played Pickelball down at Sawyer Point for the first time ever today. A great time! Parking is $5 and to play is free. I highly recommend it! The north half's for advanced players & the south half's for beginners+intermediate. Everyone was super friendly+being outside was awesome!! 🏓

Okay, a quick tweak: instead of only screenshotting the WSJ every day, I figured it might be more objective to also screenshot the NYT too for news coverage so both conservative+liberal perspectives are captured. I am curious over time how the two outlets will differ in how they portray daily news.

Been thinking ab several new projects recently. One is chronicling. I've always been a huge chronicler - I really enjoy scrolling through my old journals+albums to see where I was in a particular time of my life, what I was doing, what I was thinking. I've done that for years. But I've realized that

Rewatched The Prestige (2006) last night. A masterpiece. It was my second time watching and so I really enjoyed seeing how everything really is laid out in plain sight. It's the best movie I've ever seen about obsession. My favorite takeaway from the film: "Simple, maybe, but not easy." #filmsky

How it started versus how it's going. Prime Minister François Bayrou is ousted in France after less than nine months in office. Crippling deficits aren't unique to France though. The UK is increasingly in trouble and the US also currently has a $37 trillion deficit. How much longer can this go on? 😬

Visited the Tesla Supercharger in Polaris Towne Center in Columbus, Ohio for the first time today! This is a great location bc it's right in the parking lot across from Kroger+also in walking distance (across the parking lot the other way) of a BIBIBOP Asian Grill. Almost all stalls packed today!!⚡️⚡️

Gonna start spending less time reading+writing publicly & more time building/IRL. Expressing opinions is good; it helps you figure out what you think+others find you. But other good things: cleaning up around the house, reviewing your finances, tending to relationships. Grass grows where you water.🌱

Everything is effort. As I've gotten older, I no longer have the inexhaustible reservoir of energy I once had. The young are able to just do things. The old become frail+calcified. I have specific likes+dislikes now. The novelty's worn off+I'm now selective ab effort expenditure bc it's so bounded.

What's a good life? I often see advice to take it slow. That hustle culture is misguided. For some ppl, maybe. But not for all. I've lived a slow life before. It was awful+not for me. Struggle. Ambition. Grit. Hustle. Endless pursuit. This can be a good life too. Know yourself+decide for yourself.

It costs what it costs. The Kraft Heinz breakup is a great reminder that you can't cost-cut your way to victory. Frugality is a kind of seduction. Just spend less. Just consume less. Do more with less. But there's another way: make more money. If you like what you like, fight for it. Don't settle.

I believe everyone should begin creating their own apps. An email client, an audio player, a photo app. Chances are you have specific ideas for how an app should work. Now with LLMs, you can easily reify anything you imagine. It's empowering. Tools are no longer an obstacle. Create your own tools.

The Importance of Putting on a Show “Most consumer companies would benefit from just talking to the public at least once a yr about what they’re doing,” Chesky says. "W/o a shared destination, too many teams ended up working on their own projects+heading down paths that too often didn’t converge."

There's an inverse correlation btwn how much time I spend on my phone & how satisfied I am w/ how my day went. One reason I dislike long-haul traveling now is how disruptive it is. In the last week of July, I'd slimmed down my phone use to <1hr a day. But after traveling, it's at 2-3 hrs/day now. 😑

Visited the Buc-ee's in Richmond, KY this past weekend. An absolute treat! It was packed but as always, was a superb experience. Pay for general mangers go up all the way to $250k!! 💰 What I love most about Buc-ee's is its unabashed kitsch. To me, Buc-ee's represents everything I love ab America. 🇺🇸

Visited the Harland Sanders Café & Museum in Corbin, Kentucky today - the birthplace of KFC!! 🍗🐔 For some reason, this year, everywhere I looked, I've been seeing stories of ppl restarting their lives at 40. Lee Child, Auguste Rodin, & Harland Sanders. 🤔 It's given me hope! Late bloomers unite!! 🤝

Received the pride and joy of @mmasnick.bsky.social today! One Billion Users - The Social Media Card Game! Can't wait to give it a whirl!! 🥳

Just thought of the New Yorker piece from 2014 where on the wall at Amazon's offices, they’d hung the sign: “PEOPLE FORGET THAT JOHN HENRY DIED IN THE END.” Kasparov, Jennings, Sedol losing to Deep Blue, Watson, AlphaGo; at every turn, Team Human lost+I do believe that’ll continue to be the trend.

Watched Fantastic Four: First Steps w/ the crew! We squeaked in our August outing barely! I was honestly shocked by how good the movie was. It's in the guise of a Marvel superhero flick but is really ab marriage & a story of how much a mother loves her firstborn child. I recommend couples watch it!🍿

Going to start clipping my favorite passages from novels. I’ve read hundreds upon hundreds of books & nearly all the words have faded from memory with time. But there are some excerpts which have indelibly shaped me. These are words that’ve made me who I am today. The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand (1943)

I have a question for people who fly a lot and have to deal with 6+ hours of jetlag: do you get headaches? If so, how do you deal with them? I don't fly long haul often but man, maybe it's just me getting old, but I get the worst headaches now. Lying down+sleep only makes the headaches worse too.😭😭😭

Traveling, having kids, scrolling news+social media, watching TV shows, listening to podcasts. I've been reflecting more on activities+routines now I'm back in the US. Some changes I'm going to make moving forward: 1. Grind harder. America's a wonderful country bc ppl who work harder actually have

Back in the homeland!! 🇺🇸🥳 Yay, USA!! 🎆🥧⚾

Final day in Paris on S's birthday trip this year! It is a beautiful country w/ friendly people & I am grateful to have been able to visit. I am ready to return home though!! 🇫🇷🇺🇸❤️

Final day in Paris! Spent the afternoon reading, taking notes, reflecting. It was a quiet+light day. We visited Musée de l'Orangerie in the morning to look at Monet's waterlillies+then got lunch in the Marais district. This is the longest trip I've taken in 6yrs. Some reflections: 1. I'm not ready

Nearing the end of our Paris trip! Walked around Nanterre Prefecture last night+loved it. There are restaurants+grocers open all the way until midnight! Everyone's also super-friendly!😊 I've realized many of my favorite parts of this trip had nothing to do with Paris+more to do w/ living city-life.

Visited the Palace of Versailles today. I now totally understand why the French Revolution happened. Honestly, it surprises me it didn't happen sooner. People think we have wealth disparity today in America. We do. But *nothing* compared to what preceded the French Revolution. Nothing even close.

Same energy! 😂 Seriously though, the lobby area of the Louvre essentially feels like a giant airport. Very interesting design choice!

Representing all of America in France!! 😂 Eiffel Tower - Paris, France 🇺🇸🏆🥇🇫🇷

The Tron Recognizer structure (La Grande Arche) in Paris in the "La Défense" area is super-cool bc it lines up perfectly w/ the Arc de Triomphe & you can literally see the Arc de Triomphe standing on the steps of La Grande Arche. What's impressed me most ab Paris so far is the city's scale+cohesion.

I love this+am wholly on Team Human. I too write+post online in hopes of being read by humans+connect w/ folks; not to be simply harvested by LLMs. That said, once creators put public work into the world, it's no longer ours. I'm unworried tho; there's always ∃ SparkNotes but ppl still read books.

@jasonkpargin.bsky.social as you are a gentleman+scholar of letters, incomparably versed in the matters of today's youth, I thought immediately of you upon seeing this. If ever there were a single pane comic that captured the state of GenZ communication today in all its brevity+manifold dimensions:

I know "AI friends", robots in every home, & people consuming music/art/shows entirely AI generated en masse may seem weird/alarming. But I encourage folks to keep an open mind+think ab 100yrs ago how ppl first reacted to cars first hitting the streets. What will society look like 100yrs from now? 🤔

Some obs ab French vs American lifestyles AFAICT, French life is largely sitting around in open-air plazas drinking coffee+eating pastries, chatting/reading. After you finish a meal, no one gives you your bill to shoo you away; you go inside to pay when you're ready to leave. Beauty is everywhere.

Shakespeare and Company - Paris, France S and I love the "Before Sunrise" trilogy so we visited the Shakespeare and Company bookshop in "Before Sunset" today. This sign is the way - we should totally normalize this! Not only at bookshops either but at cafes, libraries, etc. Put away your phone!!

Enhance!